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CA, FL, OH Cities Account for 17 of Top 25 Foreclosure Metros

Irvine, CA. – Nov. 14, 2007 – RealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Q3 2007 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which shows Stockton, CA, Detroit and Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, documented the three highest foreclosure rates among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas during the third quarter.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over one million properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“Although cities in just three states — California, Ohio and Florida — accounted for more than two-thirds of the top 25 metro foreclosure rates, increasing foreclosure activity was not limited to just a few hot spots,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “In fact, 77 out of the top 100 metro areas reported more foreclosure filings in the third quarter than they had in the previous quarter. Still, there continue to be pockets of the country — most noticeably metro areas in the Carolinas, Virginia and Texas — that have thus far dodged the foreclosure bullet.”

California, Ohio, Florida Cities Dominate Top Metro Foreclosure Rates

Stockton, Calif., documented one foreclosure filing for every 31 households during the quarter, the highest foreclosure rate among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. A total of 7,116 foreclosure filings on 4,409 properties were reported in the metro area during the quarter, up more than 30% from the previous quarter.

Detroit’s third-quarter foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 33 households ranked second highest among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. A total of 25,708 foreclosure filings on 16,079 properties were reported in the metro area during the quarter, more than twice the number of filings reported in the previous quarter.

The Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, metropolitan area in Southern California documented the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, one foreclosure filing for every 43 households. A total of 31,661 foreclosure filings 20,664 properties were reported in the metro area during the quarter, up more than 30% from the previous month.

Other cities in the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Fort Lauderdale, FL; Las Vegas; Sacramento, CA; Cleveland; Miami; Bakersfield, CA; and Oakland, CA. California cities accounted for seven of the top 25 metro foreclosure rates, while Florida and Ohio each accounted for five of the top 25 spots.

The Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area reported the most foreclosure filings during the quarter, followed by Los Angeles, with 29,501 filings on 18,043 properties. The Los Angeles foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 113 households ranked No. 26 among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Detroit reported the third highest number of foreclosure filings during the quarter.

Atlanta’s foreclosure filing total of 21,695 on 18,940 properties was the fourth highest foreclosure filing total, and the metro area’s foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 92 households ranked No. 18 among the top 100 metro areas.

The RealtyTrac Metro Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of foreclosure filings by metropolitan area, along with the number of households per foreclosure filing. The household numbers are based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 estimates of total housing units.

Beginning with the Midyear 2007 report, the report also includes counts of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported against them. This new metric only counts a property once, even if there were multiple foreclosure actions filed against the property during the time period covered by the report.

Data is also available at the individual county level. RealtyTrac’s report includes documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank).